


Simone Snow, The Girl With Secrets

by jjuu1l



Category: Carry On - Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Genderswap, I didn't mean to write this much, M/M, Post-Canon, Woo!, but I did, i hope you enjoy, kinda plot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2019-03-03 00:27:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13329636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jjuu1l/pseuds/jjuu1l
Summary: Simone Snow. Orphan. University Student. Barista. Also, something else, but that'd spoil the story.In an attempt to transform into something she's not, Simone contacts The Fixer, a mysterious magical figure who 'fixes' peoples problems. This plan is foiled when the spell doesn't go as planned.





	Simone Snow, The Girl With Secrets

**Author's Note:**

> I really hope you like this story! I had this idea and it just wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it! Please, please, please, leave constructive criticism in the comments! Also, as usual, I didn't edit this! I probably will at some point. But today is not that point! Please enjoy!!!

**Simone**

I have a list of things I don’t allow myself to think about. I have a lot of lists if I’m being honest, it was something my dad teased me about back before he passed away. But the list of things I don’t allow myself to think about is much more important than the list of groceries I need, or the list of chores I’ll have to do when I get back to my flat.

The List of Things I Don’t Think About

  1. Money



I do think about money. Even when I don’t mean too, mostly because I don’t have much of it, partially because my best friend Penny continues to insist that she can cover most of our rent. I hate that I can’t argue with her about that, that I can’t pull in enough to pay rent with her. I attempt to pay her back by getting dinner and paying for as much as I can around the flat. I wish I could do more though.

  1. My Job



I work as a barista. It’s not perfect, but I remember the orders well enough and I can work on Uni homework when I take on the late-night shifts no one else wants. I almost didn’t get the job, but I managed to… persuade, the manager into giving me a job. It wasn’t something I was proud of, I’m still not, but sometimes ‘a baby’s gotta do, what a baby’s gotta do’.

  1. Tuition



This one goes hand in hand with the money one. Luckily, it ranks lower because I managed to get a scholarship that makes tuition much better than it would’ve been. I’m not entirely sure how it happened though, which is why I try not to think about it.

  1. Baz



Baz is a customer that comes by almost every morning. She’s one of the most beautiful humans I’ve ever seen. Somehow, Baz always manages to look pristine even when she claims she’s having a bad morning. Long black hair that artfully falls into her face, high cheek bones, and gray eyes that could look through any façade with ease. She reminds me of a ballerina.

We don’t talk often, only a few passing comments when she comes in, but every time I find my crush growing larger and larger. I can’t tell if she feels the same, even if she did. I couldn’t chance my… abilities, with her. Even if she was familiar with the magical community, I know how she’d react.

  1. The Abilities



This should be higher up on the list. I know it should. But if I put it lower down on the list I might not think about it as much.

 

These are the things that I don’t let myself think about. Most of them are out of my control, others are things I’m working on. But until I can get them under control, well, they’ll stay on the list. Either way it doesn’t matter, not really, because tonight I’m going to fix it, everything.

Hopefully.

 

When I arrive at the warehouse it’s completely empty. There are several candles surrounding a pentagram in the middle of the room. They’re all lit. Every one of them set at the point of the pentagram. It looks like something right out of an angsty teenagers journal. I remember seeing something like it in one of my mother’s old journals.

I’d snuck into the attic after my father had fallen asleep. He’d locked her things away and put them in the attic, thinking I’d never get curious about what I was, about who she was, and about how to change myself into something better. It’d taken me the better part of the night to get the box unlocked, and the rest of the night to read through my mother’s scribbles.

She’d managed to fill several notebooks with information. Some were about spells. Others were about rituals. The most prominent thing throughout her babbling though was the ‘savior’. A person who was meant to bring down the biggest threat to magic known to magical kind. At the time I didn’t believe a word of the things she’d written.

I still don’t.

However, she believed she could bring the savior to save magic. She completely believed that she could _create_ the savior. Which I guess is where I came in. The further I read into her ‘research’ the more I realized that my mother thought I was supposed to be the savior.

I remember laughing at the realization. Laughing at the absurdity of it all. Me? A savior? Most days I could barely get through the day without spilling something on myself. I remember thinking through all the half truths my dad had told me. Probably to protect me from this horrible truth. At that point I was only halfway through all her notebooks, they were spread out around me. A good intention turned insidious.

That was the day I promised myself I would never hurt someone with what my mom ‘gifted’ me in her attempt to save the world.

“Hello?” I called out clutching my messenger bag. This is a bad decision. I’d heard of this mysterious ‘Fixer’ after ease dropping on a pair of customers. I’d down as much research as I could manage without alerting Penny. After several weeks of texting them through a burner phone they’d finally revealed that they had found a way to cure me. They advised me that it wasn’t full proof, and they had no reliable sources to make sure it would work.

I told them it’d be fine. I was tired of being this _thing_ and anything was better than living another day knowing I could hurt someone like my mother had. They sent me an address and a time. I’d thrown away the phone that morning after memorizing the address and time. I wouldn’t need it after tonight.

“Hello.” A girl about my age appears a few feet away from the symbol on the ground. She’s quite pretty. Long blonde hair and golden-brown eyes, smaller than me, which isn’t something I thought was possible. Almost everyone I know is taller than I am. I offer her a smile that must come off sarcastic because she offers me a sarcastic laugh in reply.

“I have the money in my bag. Just take it out after you’re done. If I die, send the letters in the bag. If not, well then burn them, or don’t. I don’t care.” I say pulling off my messenger bag and dropping it next to me. She nods. I feel slightly bad, because there’s only one letter to mail. It’s to Penny, addressed to our flat. That way she knows what happened and that it wasn’t her fault.

It was mine.

A part of me feels like we could’ve been friends. If we’d met before this. If I wasn’t a _thing_ and instead human. She tells me I need to take off anything I don’t want to get messy. I take off my shoes because they were a gift from Penny, my pants and shirt aren’t worth saving. So, when I tell her I’m done she nods and gestures for me to sit in the middle of the pentagram. When I’m safely seated in the middle she walks over and picks up the money and letter from the bag.

She glances at it sadly. Like the fact I only want to mail Penny something is sadder than the fact I’m running out of options where I stay alive and don’t feel guilty living through each day.

I don’t question what’s happening. Not when she begins to read from a leather-bound book. Not when she sprinkles stuff that smells like oregano over my head. I don’t question any of it. Because I asked for this right?

It’s only when electricity begins to crack around me that I question it. It’s bright and terrifying and all I can do is watch as it begins to crackle through the pentagram. The Fixer looks uneasy as she continues to read the notebook.

The world turns hot around me. Everything is on fire. Every cell in my body is exploding all at once. I don’t know why I expected this to be painless. I was trying to cleanse my body of this _thing_ of course it wouldn’t be painless.

I yell out in pain. The Fixer continues the spell though she doesn’t look at me. I doubt she wants to be doing this about as much as I want to be in pain. But she continues to say the spell, and I continue to yell in pain. Her voice is getting louder the longer we sit here. I don’t know what she’s saying anymore, or how long we’ve been here.

Has it been hours or minutes? Seconds or days? Who knows.

Then suddenly it’s all gone. The pain, the voice, the burning sensation, everything. I don’t know where the Fixer is, but I can’t hear her anymore.

“What the hell?” A man’s voice asks. Which doesn’t make any sense. Because the Fixer and I were the only ones here, and she didn’t have such a deep voice. My eyes are closed, which I can’t remember doing. I don’t want to open them. I can’t help but imagine what I must look like. What the warehouse around me looks like.

“Baz, look.” Baz? My eyes fly open.

Halfway across the warehouse is a pair of men. They look about as confused as I feel. For a second I wonder if this is what was supposed to happen but then the hunger in my stomach comes forward full force and I realize I’m still the _thing._

The man pointing to me looks like me. He has curly hair and freckles and blue eyes. He has the same moles I do, the same bone structure. He does look a bit different from me. His hair is shorter with an attractive cut, he’s much taller than I can ever wish to be. He’s also holding the hand of a man that also looks familiar. It takes me a few seconds until I make the connection.

Baz. He looks like Baz if Baz weren’t a woman.

“Fuck.” It’s all I can say. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”

The two men look confused and upset. Which I would be too, if someone had stolen me away and transported me into a place I’d never seen. Or at least I thought they hadn’t seen it. I didn’t seem to know a lot especially right now.

“Who are you?” The guy Baz snarled. I jumped back. The guy who looked like me put his hand on guy Baz’s shoulder. Guy Baz didn’t calm down much, instead he turned to the guy who looked like me. “Simon, we don’t know what she’s doing, we don’t where we are, for all we know she could be some crazy Humdrum fanatic who plans to kill us both.”

“Humdrum? What’s a humdrum?” I ask. It’s the first time I’ve spoken and they both turn to me. The guy Baz is snarling at me while the guy who looks like me is giving me an odd look. Neither of them speaks. Neither moves. I don’t do anything either.

I’m not entirely sure why I spoke up. But something about that name felt off. It was like déjà vu even though I’m sure I’ve never heard of a Humdrum before now. But now they’re both giving me looks and all I want to do is hide. Is it possible to just implode from looks alone? Because the longer they stare at me the more I believe that it could happen.

Then my regular phone goes off.

They both jump at the sound. I only stare at my bag in disbelief. Who would be calling me? I told Penny I wouldn’t be home until late, and, well, I don’t have many friends beyond Penny. Which sounds sad, but she’s the only one who stuck around after the first few weeks of knowing me. Which is honestly the story of my life.

The phone continues to ring and all three of us continue to stare at my bag. After a minute it stops ringing. Relief flows over me until my phone starts ringing again. I take in a deep breath and crawl over to my bag. I don’t think my legs are strong enough to stand on my own, and I don’t want to test that theory. The boys move away from me as I reach inside my bag and grab my phone.

It’s Penny. Fuck.

It takes a minute for me to work up the courage to answer the phone. “Hey! Penny! What’s up?” They pair look at me funny from the other side of the room. I want to stick my tongue out at them, but I don’t.

“Where the hell are you? And what the hell are you doing?” She asks, and I know I’m caught. However, I don’t know how I got caught. I hide the burner phone. I tried acting as normal as possible. How could she know what happened?

“I’m just picking up an extra shift at Trixie’s. I thought I told you about that this morning.” I could attempt to save my skin. On the slim chance she didn’t know what I was doing.

“Simone, we both know that’s not where you are. So, get back here right now. I don’t know what you’re up to, but it can’t be good.” She replies.

“How do you know that?” I ask with a frown.

“Because I was just getting off the phone with Micah when I hear someone moving around in our living room. And I leave my room only to find myself furious trying to call Simon. When I ask myself who Simon is she says he’s her roommate. Now I’m not buying into any of this until she shows me a picture of her and Simon, who looks a lot like you Simone. So, I need you back here, right now. That way we can figure out how to send the other me back to her universe. Got it?” I glance over at the guy Baz and Simon.

“Pen, I think our problems might be a little bit bigger than just another you.” I reply looking for my car keys in my bag. When I find them, I offer the other me, and the other Baz a weak smile. Simon gives me a weak smile in return, but Baz frowns.

“Simone tell me that this Simon dude isn’t with you.”

“I can’t tell you that. But I can tell you that I’m with a guy named Baz that I don’t talk about but have seen around Trixie’s. Also, they’re both here. Also, have I ever told you that you are the best friend I’ve ever had?” She sighs on the other end of the line. “I love you.”

“I love you too. But you need to get back here before any more of us appear.” I laugh awkwardly in response. We say quick goodbyes and I take a deep breath.

“Who are you? How do you know Penny?” It’s Baz that asks. I turn back and look at the pair. What have I done?

“Okay, so, apparently, I may have somehow, dipped into a different Universe and uh, taken you and the other me, and the other Penny out of it.” I admit. Instead of looking at me like I’m insane, they nod. As if this is the least insane thing they’ve ever heard of. They don’t look like they trust me, but when I stand up they follow me out to my car.

I end up driving with Simon in the passenger seat. Baz attempted to sit there before Simon told him that the front seat was for people who weren’t kidnapped by numpties. He frowned at Simon before rolling his eyes and moving to the back seat. I don’t get what they mean at all.

The fifteen minutes it takes me to drive back to the flat is the most awkward fifteen minutes of my entire life. In that time, it takes us to drive back, I try my best to not think of what’ll happen when we get to the flat. Penny’s never going to let me live this down. In fact, she’ll probably interrogate me, and figure out what I am. And then… and then it’ll all be over. I’ll have to move back out to my parents’ cottage and live my sad life out in solitude.

A small part of me realizes I’d always expected this to happen. I’d never live a normal life, that’s something I’d accepted when my dad told me that unlike everyone I knew, I’d probably never have magic. But I’d been able to live with that. I could accept being magic-less. I’d never had it, so I could never miss it.

I’d spent years, and years of my life with people who had something I could never have. And after a while, I was completely okay with that. Sometimes, when I allowed myself to be petty and upset, I resented my mother for what she’d done. But those moments were few and far between.

That is, until after I discovered what I was.

I can easily imagine spending the rest of my life in the cottage. Until my dad had passed it was the reality for my life. And then he died. And the Bunce’s practically adopted me. They admitted they’d never liked my mother’s ideas, but I hadn’t either, so there wasn’t any bad blood between us. After everything I felt more connected to the Bunces than I had ever felt to my own mother.

When I pull into our garage I feel the need to throw up. Something bad was about to happen. I just knew it. But I didn’t know how it was going to happen.

Turning off the car I glanced at the people who I’d unceremoniously plucked out of their lives. Baz was still glaring at me from the backseat whilst Simon was just staring forward, not angrily but with a level of acceptance I’d come to expect from someone who was me in a different universe.

We get out of the car and start up the stairs. The three of us get half way up when Baz sighs and pulls out a wand from his back pocket. “ ** _Jump on the bandwagon._** ” He said and suddenly we were traveling up the stairs much faster than usual. Before I was completely sure what he’d done we were at the door of our flat.

“Baz.” Simon said disappointedly. All Baz did in response was give him a cheeky grin. I pulled the key out of my pocket only to have Penny open the door.

“Thank Crowley you’re finally here! I thought you’d done something too stupid to come back from.” She said pulling me into a hug. I didn’t respond. A voice that sounded like Penny’s rose behind Penny. “We’ve been brainstorming about how to get these three back. Now that you’re here though, maybe we can finally locate the spell that landed us here in the first place.

“Bloody hell, there are two of them.” Baz says from behind us. Penny pulls back and glares at him. The other Penny yells at him and soon they’re both ushering us into the living room. It’s strange to see two Penny’s, mine with dark blue hair, and theirs with bright purple. At least we could tell them apart.

I dropped my messenger bag by the door before following them in. The small part of me from earlier wanted to run away. Get a head start towards my new life of solitude. Then Penny yelled at me to get into the living room.

Oh well, I think accepting my fate. I join them in the living room, and for the first time since the warehouse I allow myself to think about how strange my life is.

I live in a world where magic is real. I live in a world were something like me can exist. I live in a world filled with vampires and numpties. In a world where something that could’ve cured me instead pulled a trio of people I knew from a different universe and put them in mine.

I laughed.

“This is fucking absurd.” I whispered before laughing again. Neither Penny looked shocked, while Baz and Simon gave me a strange look. “This is so goddamned absurd. I mean really. Think about it. After everything we’ve been through we’re all sitting here. How the hell does this even happen?” I don’t know when my laughing turns to crying. All I know is that when I finish Penny is standing in front of me with something dangerous in her eyes.

“Simone, how did they get here?” She asked. I shrugged. I wasn’t even completely sure how it’d all happened. “Simone, if this Baz is the same Baz from our universe then we’ve got something big on our hands. We need to get them back before someone freaks out.” Penny sounds more serious than I’ve ever heard her sound before. More serious than when she’d tried to convince me to go to therapy.

“Who exactly is Baz in this world?” I ask. “Because the only Baz I know is the cute girl who stops by Trixie’s for coffee.” I admit. I feel myself blush at the admission. Penny had known I was bisexual before this, but I didn’t go to her with crushes very often. Especially since she always seemed to know when I had a crush and encouraged me without really questioning it.

“Baz. Tyrannus Basilton Grimm-Pitch. The daughter of the Mage.” I don’t know a lot about the magical world. The only bit of information I have is what I pick up from Mitali and Martin after things shift in the magical world.

“Who’s the Mage again? Is that the one that your mum can’t stand, or was that my mum? Or was it the guy with the funny looking hair?” Everyone who isn’t my Penny looks at me like I’m stupid. My Penny rolls her eyes at me. Which makes me feel a little bit better.

“Remember when my mum started talking about the woman who saved a nursey full of children from a horde of vampires?” It finally clicks. I point at Penny.

“The pretty one!” She nods her head. I attempt to remember what I can about the Mage. She’s been in office for a while now, if I’m remembering correctly. My mum apparently didn’t care for her much, and they went to school together.

“She’s still alive?” It’s Baz who asks this question. The attention shifts from my lack of knowledge and onto Baz’s question. My Penny nods and something in Baz’s face cracks. I recognize the look, it’s relief and grief all at the same time. It’s the intense want to cry for a multitude of reasons that you aren’t sure of yet.

Simon’s arm wraps around Baz’s shoulder and his face cracks even further. Then he starts crying. Both Penny’s look away immediately. I let myself linger on the sight for a few seconds before looking away myself. The crying goes on for a few minutes. Then he shifts back into an attitude I haven’t seen on him before and my interrogation continues.

“So, now that you understand the significance of all of this. Tell me how this happened.” She looks at me like I should just willfully spill all my secrets at once. And the thing is…

The thing is I know I should tell her. I know that deep down we’ll never figure this out unless I tell her what really happened. What I really am. But I don’t want things to change. I don’t want Penny to look at me like the monster I am. I want to joke about how single I am. I want to spend mornings debating whether crunchy peanut butter is superior to smooth peanut butter. I want to hear about what cute message Micah sent her.

I don’t want things to change.

“Someone was performing a spell. I went in to stop them. When I got in there they blindsided me. When I woke up I was sitting in the middle of a pentagram and these two were there.” I reply. It only takes her a few seconds to realize I’m lying. In fact, every in the room seems to know I’m lying. Each one of them giving me this look, like they’re trying to figure out where the truth ends, and the lie begins. Who would’ve guessed I was so good at lying?

“Why’re you lying?” Shit. Apparently, Baz knew how to connect the dots. I shook my head in response. A futile attempt to convince everyone I wasn’t lying. He wasn’t buying it. “I swear to god if you don’t tell us what happened I will-” He abruptly stops when Penny and I gasp at his fangs.

The room descends into madness as my Penny pulls out her wand to spell him away. The other Penny pulls her own wand out and suddenly both Pennys are circling each other. Each on the edge of a spell. Baz pulls out his own wand and points it at me. I stand in fear with both of my hands up. I have no defense against magic. Well, almost no defense.

But that would require me to be much closer and much braver than I am.

“Calm down!” Simon yells. Everyone turns to look at him. In the moment without Baz’s wand on my I make a break for the window. It’s not my smartest idea, especially since we live a few stories up. But I’m lucky enough to know there is a balcony a floor or two down right underneath that window. So, when I break through the window and tumble into a piece of patio furniture I roll off it and ignore the way my arm screams at me.

I can tell I’ve broken it when I force my way inside of our neighbor’s flat. Luck must be on my side because no one is home. I manage barely manage to find the front door before I hear someone yelling. Then someone’s falling, and I hear them curse when they hit the patio furniture. It’s not Baz, and it’s not either of the Penny’s.

Which meant it was Simon.

“Fuck!” I repeated over and over until the answer finally hit me. Both literally and metaphorically.

Simon slammed into me and we both went down. I attempted to wrestle him off of me before I realized he had me pinned. I glared up at him.

“You know if you weren’t me, then this would be really embarrassing.” I said and he blinked at me. “But I think you want to let me go.” I added, and for the first time in my life I used my ‘powers’.

They didn’t show up until after my 11th birthday. I was terrified, grief stricken, and all alone. The hunger hit me like I’d spent my entire life fasting. I’d never felt so hungry in my life and no matter what I ate nothing filled the hunger. After a few weeks I learned how to live with it. Going to school was harder, because for a reason I couldn’t fathom, it made me hungrier. The cycle went on for weeks before I’d figure out what it was.

I was sitting with a boy I’d had a crush on for a few weeks when it happened. We were flirting like 11-year-olds, which is to say we were flirting badly, and he leaned in and kissed me. For the first time in weeks I felt the hunger subside. Not completely but the longer we kissed the fuller I felt. I never wanted to stop, which I know now is absurd. Partially because I was 11 and had no clue what a good kiss was like. But mostly because when I’d pulled back, the hunger was gone, and the boy I liked looked like he was asleep.

Half an hour later when he still wasn’t awake I pushed against his shoulder. When his head fell against my shoulder and I couldn’t feel him breathing. I began to yell for a doctor, or someone who knew CPR. Someone, anyone, who could help him.

I got lucky. A nurse was in and barely managed to save him.

After that I did a lot of googling and eventually found a title that seemed to fit what I was.

Succubus. I was a succubus.

Since then I’d tested that title out. To make sure I wasn’t just sucking people’s souls out of their bodies. When I was thirteen I discovered that if I focused what I called a ‘pulse’ into another person they’d agree to more than they normally would. I figured it out after an older guy approached me on the street and offered me a ‘job’. I’d sent the pulse through his arm that he wouldn’t take off my shoulders and convinced him to walk away from me.

I’d never been so relieved in my life.

“I mean think about it Simon. You don’t want to do this. Hurt someone.” I sent the pulse through his arms and he immediately responded. He nodded in response and rolled off of me. I took a sigh of relief before making a split-second decision. “Also I need a little snack for the road. Sorry about this.” I took a deep breath before kissing him.

It felt like what I thought kissing my brother would feel like. I still drew what energy I could from him. I didn’t feel alert like I usually did, but my arm had stopped hurting completely. For a second I thought about draining him completely, leaving nothing but a comatose body never to wake again. Then I regain control of myself and pulled away. Both of us were breathing heavily.

“Again, sorry.” I repeated before getting up and running from the flat.

 

**Penny**

I don’t know why she’s running. We’ve spent our entire childhood together. She has no reason to run. I wrack my brain for any reason she’d run. Before we can cast a spell to track her she’s disappeared from the building.

“What the hell was that! What has your Snow been up to!” Baz yells when Simon is back in the flat.

“I don’t know! She’s never done anything like this before! Not even after, not even after finding out about what her mum did!” I sit down and let my head fall into my hands. It’d been years since she’d done something like this. The last time she’d ran away from our house because she was worried she was ‘tainting’ us. Mum gave her hell for thinking that.

“What did her mum do?” The other me asked.

“She tried to make Simone this ‘savior’ to the world of magic. But instead of doing that she died and left her with a world of self-doubt. Simone found out after sneaking into her mum’s records.” The room went silent around me. My mind was racing to try and connect the dots, to figure everything out before she did something she regretted.

“This would all be a lot easier if we just had the same history.” Baz groaned. I glanced up at him.

He looked a lot like the Baz I knew from Watford. We didn’t talk much, we never needed to. She was the sporty type who spent whatever time she wasn’t out practicing, flirting with the lot of boys that always showed up to her matches. I noticed the boys never lasted more than a few weeks, and they never seemed to make her smile.

I don’t remember when I’d realized that, but the realization had stuck with me throughout our years at Watford. Then when I left I didn’t give half our classmates a second glance. Letting the realization fall into the back of my mind.

But seeing this Baz with Simon made the realization make more sense. A lot more sense.

“Fuck,” Simon whispered sitting up. Baz was at his side in a second, looking at him like he’d just said the most profound thing in existence. “That felt so- so-”

“Bad?” Baz guessed.

“Terrible?” The other me answered.

“Like you just jumped out of a window after the female version of yourself?” I added.

“Good.” He responded, sitting up like he hadn’t just jumped out of a window and wrestled with a terrified girl.

“You just jumped out of a fucking window Snow, how the hell did it feel good?” Baz asked through his tone didn’t match his harsh words.

“I don’t know. But when I got into the flat I tackled her, and pinned her down. Then she started talking, and her eyes started glowing bright blue, I’ve never seen anything like it before. And then I just really wanted to do everything she said, and she got more attractive the longer she spoke. I got off her, she gave me this weird look and said she was sorry. And then she leaned over and almost kissed me. Then it felt like she was sucking the energy out of me.” What? What? I must’ve looked confused, because the other me looked confused. Baz looked angry.

What was Simone hiding?

“Taking your energy? Glowing eyes? What the hell is your Simone?” Baz asked me, practically growling. I didn’t respond.

This definitely had something to do with the ritual Simone’s mum had performed when she was a baby. Which might explain why she didn’t have magic. So, Simone was some kind of human who could suck the energy out of other people. Who looked attractive the longer someone looked at her.

“I don’t know.” I responded. “But obviously she was too scared too tell me because she’s never done something like this before. Like ever.” The other me frowned. She must’ve been going over the clues in her head as well.

“She’s not a vampire.” She stated, and I nodded my head.

“Not a werewolf either, she’s allergic to dogs, not to mention she’d never be able to hide that from me.” I said, Baz snorted. I glared at him. “Do you have any bright ideas Baz? Because I’d like to remind you that without her, none of you are going to get back to your world.” His face fell, but he didn’t say anything. Instead he turned his attention back to Simon, who had become much more affectionate in the last few minutes.

“Okay, so what feeds on energy, can make itself attractive, and then leaves people affection as hell?” No one responds at first.

“A succubus.” Simon says. I almost object until I think it through. It’d make sense, but there hasn’t been a succubus spotted in almost a century. They used to pose a ‘threat’ to society back in the 1800s, by the time the 1900s rolled around they’d been hunted down and most people thought they were extinct.

“But neither of her parents were succubi, except, except if the ritual Simone’s mum performed somehow turned Simone into a succubus. Then it’s possible.” I say and the other me nods in agreement. I glance over at Baz and Simon who’re both barely paying attention to what I’m saying.

“So, now that we know that, we just need to find her. And figure out what kind of spell she peformed, and then we can reverse it and go back.” The other me said, and I frowned. “What?” she asked.

“We’ll also need to find out who cast the spell. Simone doesn’t have magic.”

 

**Baz**

“No, no, Dee, I’m not going out with him.” Sometimes I wonder why I keep Dee around. It’s like she can’t help but be stupid as all hell. I side step a couple walking their Pomerania. I frown as Dee speaks again.

“But why? He’s adorable.” Is she being serious right now? I can’t help but wonder if she is or if she’s just pretending to be this stupid. I’d put up with her for seven years because she was my roommate, so I should’ve known she’d set me up with a guy. Even after I’d come out to her.

“Why? Because it’s a guy. We’ve been over this, I’m gay.” I reply, I see someone to the left of me turn their heads. I give them a glare that should discourage any comments and continue walking.

I’m not entirely sure where I’m going. All I knew was that I needed to get out of my house. Mum wasn’t home, again, and dad couldn’t be bothered to do anything about it. The kids were acting out and I wasn’t going to deal with them. So, I left. I grabbed my wallet, a pair of boots, and used **_in a land far, far, away_**.

Which meant I wasn’t exactly sure where I was. I didn’t have time to check where I was before Dee called me, asking me to go out with her boyfriend’s friend.

“Oh, right, I forgot.” I’m sure you did. Dee giggled on the other end. I rolled my eyes and glanced around for a street sign. I saw one and sighed, I wasn’t very far away from that Trixie’s coffee place. I stared at it for a few seconds before wondering if the cute barista would be there.

“Hey, Dee, I’m going to call you back later.” I hung up the phone and headed towards the coffee shop. I didn’t have much of a plan, but I did have a couple pounds to waste on coffee. I pull out my phone because whoever is texting me won’t leave me alone, and make plans to get more than one coffee.

 

**Agatha**

I don’t know what I was thinking. That fixing other people’s problems would somehow make my own better. That somehow, if I changed someone else’s life, it would affect my own. It worked for a while, I guess.

I felt better at the very least. I could make other people happy, which made me feel better.

Unfortunately, this happened.

When I’d finished the spell two people had appeared in a poof of smoke on the other end of the room. In a panic I’d run from the building and spelled myself back into my bedroom. All I could remember was that poor girl’s scream.

I sat on my bed for almost an hour before wondering if I should call someone to help me out. But that meant telling someone what I’d been up to, and then probably explaining this entire business? To them. Even though it wasn’t much of a business.

I closed my eyes before taking a deep breath and steeling myself for what I was going to do. Picking up my phone I quickly searched through my contacts until I found Baz’s number. She would give me shit about this for weeks, but at least she’d understand.

_Baz, I need your help._

It took her five minutes to text back.

_On my way w/ coffee._

She’s a saint.

 

**Baz**

Agatha and I don’t talk much. We hung out at school but both of us wanted to be somewhere else. Agatha wanted to be with her Normal friends and I wanted to be with the cute girls I saw her hanging out with. Without needing to explain this to the other we were able to realize this friendship was a stand in for what we really wanted. Mutualism at its finest.

We only hung out outside of school when one of us needed something from the other. Like when Agatha invited me over for dinner to convince her parents she was ‘making friends’ at Watford. It was much easier to ‘hang out’ with Agatha than it was to hang out with Dee or anyone else I knew at Watford. While her parents cared about who I was, Agatha didn’t seem to care at all. About my mother’s title, about magic in general.

It was refreshing.

I walked into the bathroom with the two coffees and shut the door. Making sure no one could hear me I pulled out my wand.

“ ** _A foot in the door._** ” I cast on the door. I picked the coffees back up and opened the door to reveal Agatha’s room. She was sitting on her bed, giving me a strange look.

“Bloody hell Baz, you just came out of the closet.” I laughed in response. She frowns at me before shaking her head. “We can make shit jokes later, Baz I did something really bad and you were the only one I thought that could help.”

“Did you kill someone?” I asked, mostly as a joke handing her the coffee. When she doesn’t respond and just takes the top off her coffee and blows on it. “Agatha, tell me you didn’t kill someone. Because I can get you out of a lot, drug stuff? Yeah. Contraband? Yes. Murder is where I draw the line though.”

She gives me a sad look before diving into the story of the Fixer. A person known for fixing people’s most unwanted traits. The fixing went from never getting acne again to making people leave. Always of their own free will, though they didn’t ever come back. The longer I listened to it the more I understood where she was coming from.

I had a theory that everyone in the world denied themselves what they really wanted. That no matter how much you wanted to do something, or wanted to go somewhere, you didn’t. Not because you couldn’t, but because once you did, well, you didn’t have much to strive for after that. Did you?

That was why it had taken me so long to come out to my family. And why I knew, one day, I’d end up with a man. Because no matter how much I wanted it, I could never have it. Not really.

“Everything was going good, until my last client.” She told me about the succubus who wanted to be human. They’d been texting back and forth for a few weeks until Agatha had found some spell she thought might work. She told me how the succubus had shown up and told Agatha that she knew she could die, and what to do if she did. According to Agatha the succubus looked human, and believed they were human until her powers were revealed to her.

The story made me sad. What was the use of living if you feared that everyone you loved would think you were a monster if they found out what you really were?

“The spell was going well, I think, it felt like it was going well, and then these two guys just showed up. I couldn’t tell if the spell had brought them there, or if they’d spelled themselves there. But the second I saw them I spelled myself out of there.” She said sipping her coffee, and looking guiltier than I’d ever seen her.

“And what do you want me to do?” I asked. I knew what she wanted me to do though, or at least I thought I did.

“I want to track down the person on the envelope, I don’t have a name. However, I do have an address. But, I can’t go alone.” I blink at her once. Twice. She can’t be serious right now, can she?

“You’re not serious.”

“I am. You don’t even have to say anything. But this is something I need to do. I just need someone there to make sure I do it.”

“Agatha.”

“Baz, I don’t even care if you spell me to do it. I just,” Her eyes are tearing up. “I’ve ran away for too long. I need you to make sure I do this, please. I won’t ever ask you for a favor ever again. Please.” There are tears. Actual tears falling down her face. I want to look away, but she’s found my weak spot, and I don’t even think she’s acting. She genuinely feels this strongly about this.

“Fucking hell Agatha.” She offers me a small smile and I feel myself fall into a plot much bigger than I am. “Fine, fine, I’ll go with you.”

 

**Penny**

It takes us half an hour to plan before any of us casts a spell to track Simone. I cast a **_Backseat driver_** to watch her until we can figure out what to do. We’ve pulled out a dry erase board, and currently the other me and Baz are arguing over the dry erase marker. I’d argue for a right to have it myself but at this point I’m too worried about Simone to think about much else.

Simone and I had spent most of our childhood together. I knew her better than I knew some of my older siblings. All I want her to do is come back alive. I want her to stop being such an idiot sometimes and just tell me when stuff happens to her.

I would give up my magic just to have her with me. Right now. Watching bad movies and making fun of the idiotic ‘grand gestures’ that they have five minutes before the credits. Eating popcorn that’s half burnt and covered in this cherry flavoring Simone and I found on a trip to the store.

“I’m sorry.” Simon says. He’s not looking at me, I know Simone well enough to know that this is probably him trying to make up for making a ‘mistake’. I wanted to cry. He noticed this and began to panic.

“No, no, it’s okay. I just, you remind me of Simone, and right now Simone is…” I trail off, because apparently I’d never known what Simone was. Which really pisses me off, because if I’d known, then maybe I could’ve helped her. Maybe I could’ve changed everything and she’d still be here, and she wouldn’t be running away from us.

“A sore subject?” He offered, I nodded. “Well, I’m not her, I mean technically I _am_ her, but I know that if I were in her shoes, I’d come back. I mean, you’ve helped me out of my fair share of shitty situations.” I can’t help but laugh. It’s such a Simone thing to say, it’s exactly what I need right now. I find myself leaning against Simon. It’s not the same as leaning against Simone, her shoulder is lower, and bonier, but it’s close.

We sit in silence for a few minutes. Or, not silence, not complete silence. The other me and Baz are still arguing over who gets the marker, but at the very least some things are getting written down.

Which is when we hear someone knock.

I shoot up and off the couch. Baz and the other me immediately stops arguing, both now looking at the door in horror. No one was visiting today, Simone and I had plans to meet up with my parents over the weekend for brunch, but no one was supposed to be visiting today.

“Don’t say a word.” I shot a glare at all of them, even myself, before hurrying over to the door. Normally I’d avoid anyone just knocking on our door, but the small chance that it might be Simone has me rushing to the door. I take in a deep breath, put my fingers to my lips in what I know is a threatening way at the rest of the room, and turn back to the door.

I open the door.

 

**Agatha**

There are a lot of things I imagine when the door opens.

I imagine a worried sick mother. A scared to death child. A mourning girlfriend. A mourning husband. No one.

I don’t imagine Penelope Bunce.

“Agatha?” She says looking at me.

 

**Baz**

“Baz?” Penelope’s attention turns to me. I’ll be the first to admit this isn’t what I though was going to happen. “What are you two doing here?” She asks but neither of us is brave enough to offer up an answer. Penelope and I had fought for the top spot in our year for, well, as long as we were students at Watford. I lost by half a percentage in our eighth year. She’d been humble about having the top spot, at least to my face. Which I respected.

She was also terrifying. Easily one of the smartest witches I’d ever met, and unafraid to be the only one standing up for something. She was the kind of person to start a revolution with actions and win it with words alone.

“I, uh, here.” Agatha ungracefully shoved the letter towards Penny. Which, if Agatha did accidentally kill someone close to Penny, wasn’t the best idea. Penny eyed the letter warily before taking it. I found myself watching with intense curiosity as she ripped open the envelope and began reading the note.

“Oh, you fucking wanker.” She muttered under her breath, she glared back up at us. Though if the immediate softness in her eyes was anything to go by, wasn’t meant for us, but the wanker. “Both of you. In here. Now.”

I didn’t argue.

Penny shuffled both of us into her flat, which was already occupied by a different trio.

“Okay. So, as we all know, my idiotic best friend has brought us all here together today. Whether this was fate, or just our shitty luck we need to find her, reverse the spell that brought everyone here, and convince her to not do something suicidal. Also! Agatha, Baz, meet Alternate universe Penny, Baz, and Simon. You can all sit down, or argue over the marker. Got it?”

I needed a drink.

 

**Penny**

As I stared at the room full of people I wondered if my life could get any stranger than this. Than the identical male version of my best friend and his vampire (I was quite shocked when his fangs slide out after a quip from the other me, and have her only add another quip) boyfriend, the other me, Agatha a girl I’d thought about maybe twice since graduation, and Baz who appeared to very much need a drink.

I think I might need one too after the day I’ve had.

At first everything is at a standstill. With Agatha and our Baz just staring in awe at the other Baz and Simon. That is until

“Hey, you two were at the warehouse.”

“You were the one who cast the spell on Simone?”

“I thought I was helping!”

“Well, great job creampuff, not only have you not helped, but-”

“Baz!”

“It’s not fair that she got handed the short end of the fucking stick. She didn’t choose that! So why shouldn’t I try to help someone who actually wants help!”

The room falls silent again.

“So, I’m a guy in a different universe. Who would’ve guessed.” Baz stated. “And cute barista girl is a guy too. Guess I’m not straight in any universe.” The other Baz laughed. It’s the first time I’ve heard Baz laugh, guy or girl.

The room falls into silence once more, but this time it’s a productive silence. Agatha spells her journal to the flat, so we can figure out a reverse spell, while the girl Baz offers to help me find Simone and get her back here. I ask her why she’s so determined to help. She shrugs. It doesn’t hide her blush, but I pretend I don’t notice it. Besides, there are more important things to figure out. Like where my idiotic best friend is.

 

**Simone**

I’m lost. In the woods. I’m not entirely sure how I got to the woods, but I’m here now, and I’m lost. I keep passing by the same rock formation no matter which way I turn. My stomach is growling, I’m helpfully reminded that I didn’t eat before running away.

“Awesome.” I say to no one. I know they’ve cast a spell to find me by now, or at the very least I hope they did. At this point I just want them to find me and get rid of me rather than delaying the inevitable. I sit down on the rock formation and wait.

Seconds pass by. Then minutes. I check my watch and find a whole hour has passed since I’d stumbled into this forest.

 _They’re not coming._ A voice tells me, to ignore it I begin to sing a song my dad had sung me when I was a little girl. It’s a short little song about flowers, he’d sing it to me when a storm would scare me, or when neither of us could sleep. Back then it’d been comforting. A hug. A torch in the dark. Color in a blank world.

Now? It’s terrifying. He’s not here. Penny’s not here. No one’s here. Just me.

“Fuck. I messed up.” I didn’t know why I said it aloud. It just felt right. I leaned back, forgetting that I wasn’t sitting in a chair. And fell off the rock.

I cursed. The ground was damp under my back. Soaking into the jumper I’d thrown on at some point. I’d quite liked this jumper too. Penny had bought it for me when we’d visited a waterpark a few years back. At that point I’d given up any hope that I’d get any taller, so when she gave it to me, I hoped it was true. That way I wouldn’t outgrow the jumper.

Now, here I was, laying on the ground in a forest, lost and lonely, staring up at the trees above me, dew seeping into the jumper. Oh, how past me would be so disappointed. Granted, past me would be quite confused as to why I was laying on the ground of a forest, smelling of oregano.

A laugh passed my lips. And once I’d started laughing, I found that I couldn’t stop. What an absurd place to be. What an absurd position to be in. What an absurd person to be.

 _“Rosebud? Darling? Is that you?”_ A voice said, a long-lost memory recently rediscovered. I turned my head away from the sky and glanced towards the voice. Just a few meters away was a woman. She had dark hair, and beautiful eyes. The woman was wearing an outfit most would find ridiculous, but seemed to fit her. _“Rosebud, darling, this way.”_

She stretched a hand out to me. Pulling me.

I followed without question.

 

**Baz**

“I thought you were tracking her.” The other me snarled from across the room, he glared at Penny, the Penny I knew, looking as if he wanted to attack her. Simon held him back whilst Penny looked distraught. She’d recast the spell to check where Simone was, only to have it come back without her location.

“I was. She, she must’ve found some place guarded from magic.” Penny was frowning at her ring. Everyone else was frowning at her ring too.

“Well how the hell are we supposed to find her then?” He asked. Penny blinked at her ring, before glancing at a picture on their fireplace.

“I know where she is,” She says, leaving us all guessing as to where Simone actually is. The other me gives her a look that screams ‘AND!?!?!’. Which is when she answers the questions that none of us have asked. “She’s going back to her mum’s cottage. Maybe she doesn’t realize it yet, but she is. She’s run away before, and it’s always where she goes. But I’m going to need someone else to spell us there because my magic doesn’t work inside of this strange dome they put around the cottage.”

I really hope my mother wasn’t expecting me home any time soon.

 

**Simone**

The woman is leading me home. Not to the place Mitali told me I could call home, or Penny and I’s flat. But _home._

I can hear my dad cooking in the next room over, humming along to a song I’ve never heard. Just outside the chickens are squawking because they see something, I don’t know why, but they’re always squawking at something. I’m sitting up in my bed, hair blocking most of my vision. It’s a Saturday, which means Dad won’t have to spell me to the Bunce’s to go to school.

It’ll only be a few weeks until summer. I can’t wait.

A drop of water hits my nose and when I glance up at the ceiling I find a tree in it’s place. I’m brought back to reality as everything fills in around me.

I’m in the old cottage. Or what’s left of it. The walls are molding, the doors and window shutters are decaying and barely hanging onto their hinges. No stove where bacon sizzles. No bed that I slept in on stormy nights. No attic that I wasn’t allowed to go up in. No dad.

I haven’t been back since dad passed away. I’d refused to see it without him, without the love he brought and used to fill every crack, and crevice. I wanted my last memory to be of dad burning our dinner and apologizing. I couldn’t find it in myself to be mad. He was dying after all.

Tears fall down my face. I think I’m sobbing. I can’t hear myself, so who really knows. The voice is still speaking to me, but I don’t want to listen to her. Not anymore. My heart is burning, it takes all my self-restraint to not do the same to the building around me. To burn it all, burn the memories, burn the last remnants of a life I didn’t get to live. I wonder if Simon got to live this life. If he got to know his parents. Got to know what happened to them.

“Simone? Is that you?” It’s Penny’s voice behind me. I don’t want to turn around and face her. I’m not even sure if I can muster up the courage to do it. “Simone, it’s okay. I know what you thought you were doing. It’s okay.” She says, except it’s not. It’s really, really, not.

“No. No, it’s not.” I shake my head, even though I don’t know if she can see me. I don’t think I want her to see me. Not like this. “I thought I was going to make everything better. If not _human_ , then at least _gone._ ” It’s the first time I’ve said it out loud. Admitted that death was better than this.

“Simone. Don’t say that.” I can hear her pleading. It’s what finally convinces me to turn around. And when I do I see more than I expected.

The girl who performed the spell. She’s wearing a cute plaid skirt and a long cream-colored sweater. She’s cuter than I remembered. I think she’s changed since earlier, but I’m not sure. She looks guilty. She looks how I feel.

I see Penny. Not my Penny. But the other one. She’s sad. I can’t tell if I’m the thing that made her sad, or if she’s sad about something else. Maybe it’s both. I believe that it’s a bit of both.

Simon. The other me. He’s standing like a flame against the damp forest backdrop. He looks important. Fearless. He looks like he’s been training his entire life for this. He’s a hero, I think. It’s nice to think that in a different world I was a hero.

Baz. Not my Baz. But his Baz. He knows what I’m talking about. He gets it. Knows what it’s like to be a monster, to want to rid yourself of a beast you were born with. I want to ask him about it. I want to hear his story. Every detail. How he came out not wanting to set himself up for something like death.

The other Baz. My Baz. She’s confused. She doesn’t get it. I’m not surprised. Not really. I was the cute coffee barista to her. Not Simone. A tragedy wrapped in a tragic backstory topped off with a shit taste in almost everything. I wonder for a second if she could’ve helped. Helped me out of this. Helped me find another way. I guess we’ll never know.

Penny. My Penny. The girl who stuck it out with me through thick and thin. Who was accidentally spelled to have blue hair and stuck with it. Who almost single handedly kept me in school. She’s crying. I’m crying. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. Besides cry I mean.

Am I supposed to run?

Pull a match out of my back pocket and send it all up in flames?

“Don’t do it.” He says. It’s me. Or, not me, but Simon.

“Why?” I ask, which is when I think of all the whys. Because Penny would miss you. Because you haven’t payed the Bunce’s back. You haven’t graduated. You haven’t finished the third season of Supernatural. You haven’t resigned from being a barista. You haven’t met someone you fell in love with over a cheesy romantic meal.

Because it’s not your time. Not yet.

“You know why.” He says. I do know why.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” I reply, talking a step towards them. Which is when the voice I’d been ignoring for so long becomes too loud. _“NO!”_ It screeches. My knees give out underneath me and the damp ground soaks my jeans. _“YOU CANNOT LEAVE.”_   Everyone else can hear it too because they’re all staring at something just over my head.

I look up. And for the first time in my life. I see my mother.

 

**Penny**

I’ve only seen her mum in pictures. They’re old and don’t look at all like the woman in front of us. Granted, the woman in front of us is also a ghost. She’s ethereal floating above Simone.

Her hair is flowing, gorgeous against the dreary sky.  Her voice is the most beautiful thing that I’ve ever heard. She’s calling out to us. We all listen.

 

**Simone**

I can’t hear anything. When I glance up I see all of them walking towards me. A unified force against me. It’s my worst fear realized.

 _“Oh, it’s not your worst fear darling.”_ The screeching has stopped. The voice is speaking from above me. I glance up and see my mother. She’s gorgeous. She floats down and settles down beside me. Mother smiles. Like she believes everything is okay. She reaches a hand out towards me.

I recoil away from it.

 _“Rosebud. Please, don’t do this. I’ve waited so long to meet you. To get a chance to know you. Let me know you.”_ Her smile is like sunshine, and her eyes shine like diamonds. For the longest time I wondered what it’d feel like to hug her, hear her laugh, have her kiss my forehead, or something equally domestic. Everything is pushing me towards her.

Go! It yells. Go to her!

“Mum? Is it really you?” I ask, even though, I know, I know it’s her. it’s her, and she’s here. And I should just take this opportunity to know her.

But then the realization hits me.

Why now? Why, after seventeen years does she decide that now, is the best time to get to know me? I lived in this house for almost a decade and not once did she talk to me. Not once did she decide that I was worth visiting. Not on any of the important days. Never. So why now?

 _“Yes, my darling girl. I’ve missed you so much.”_ Given the amount I’ve cried in the last day I don’t think it’s possible to cry again. But apparently it is. Or, maybe it’s the rain that’s started pouring. I wish I remembered when it started, but I don’t. _“You are so big now, and I missed it all. I’m so sorry, my rosebud.”_

“Mum.”

_“Yes?”_

“What’s my name?”

 _“What?”_ She looks confused.

“What’s my name, mum, what’s my name? Dad said you named me before passing away. So, what is it? What is my name?” She frowns, it’s a pretty frown. I didn’t think a pretty frown was possible, but it is.

I can sense the people around me. They’re echoing her confusion. Louder, and louder, until I’m almost as confused as they are. Somehow, I hold onto my question, and onto my mother. I’m not letting her go, not until she answers my questions.

 _“My darling child, why ask such a silly question? We don’t have long. I want to know you. Please.”_ She’s pleading. I can feel it in my heart. Everything tells me to let it go, I don’t have long, so why get stuck up on a silly little thing like a name? But I can’t. I just can’t.

“Mum, I need you to answer me. Please.” Her frown turns ugly. In a second she’s ugly. The gorgeous eyes melting into a red inferno, burning everything, she looked at. The arms holding me begin to tear into my skin, tearing at my resolve. “Mum, please.” I’m the one pleading now.

 _“Do. Not. Question. Your. Mother. Child. I did not give up my own life for you to act so selfishly.”_ I hear thunder. It’s far away, pounding against her hold, cracking her spell. The things she wrote in the journals flooding my mind. The things she knew would happen, the things she didn’t know would happen.

“You aren’t my mother.” I say. It’s not true. She is, but it’s the only way I can think to hurt her. And right now? Right now, all I want to do is hurt her. “You aren’t my mother. You are a coward.” She flinches, the light emanating from her damping. “You brought a _monster_ into the world. And left my dad, your _husband_ to be the scape goat. Only cowards let other people take the blame. Only a coward would plan to create a savior and instead create a monster. You are a coward.”

My words aren’t eloquent. They barely even make any sense. But she flinches like I’m throwing knives, and I continue to throw them.

“You left me. Left me to deal with the monster that I am. Leaving the Bunces to take care of me because you isolated everyone else out of dad’s life. You were abusive. You killed his chickens! They were fucking chickens! But you couldn’t stand that dad had anything else besides you, so you killed them. So maybe, maybe I wasn’t the only monster in this family. Maybe your stupid little ritual wasn’t the thing that turned me. Maybe I was born a monster, because a monster gave birth to me!” She snarls at me, down on all fours like a rabid animal. I can’t tell if I’m imagining the foam at the sides of her mouth or not.

The other’s look like they’re coming out of her spell too. Looking around like they’re not sure how they got here.

 _“I am not the succubus. I am not the eater of souls. I. Am. Not. A. Monster.”_ The ghost pretending to be my mother replies, she’s burning. Flames surrounding her, she’s a demon. Who would’ve guessed?

“I got by for seventeen years without you. I can get by for seventeen more. As you know **_Absence makes the heart grow founder!_** ” I don’t know where the feeling comes from but I point at her. She stares at me in awe as a mist surrounds her. The air is suddenly static. Everything feels dead, like I’d sucked the life out of it. Who knows? Maybe I did. The ghost who claimed to be my mother is gone. The people behind me make a few surprised noises.

“The magic, it’s- it’s gone!” Someone yells, I turn back to them.

“There was never magic here.” Then, I pass out.

 

When I wake up, Penny hits me.

It’s my Penny. She’s sitting by the side of my bed, as if waiting to hit me the moment I woke up. Which is both nice, and terrifying. I wake up slowly, unsure of where I am at first, and then the memories begin to flow back to me. Then Penny hits me.

She starts yelling as well. Giving me a lecture about running off on my own, not telling her things about my health. She throws in a few things just to spite me, like how I forget to tell her when we’ve run out of cherry scones, or when I don’t put my towel up to dry. It’s awfully domestic seeing as I just faced off with my demon of a mother. The thought of her starts to give me the start of a headache.

“I’m sorry.” I say to Penny when she stops to take in a deep breath. She’s not done with her rant, not by a long shot, but I know I should apologize before she gets to the small animals I used to hide in the house when I found them injured and alone. She gives me an angry look before smothering me with a hug.

I almost cry in relief.

When she pulls back she explains how they had to spell us back here to make sure I wasn’t dead. They cast a bunch of spells on me to see if I was still a succubus (I am) or if I’d somehow gained magic (I didn’t). When they found nothing they just sat around to test out more when I was awake. Which they do. Then they say they want to reverse the spell.

I’m put through a whirlwind as they move me to the middle of another Pentagram. The girl who casted the spell on me is there as well. She introduces herself as Agatha and apologizes for getting us into this mess. I tell her that she wasn’t the monster here. She frowned at me.

The Penny, Baz, and me from the other universe stand a few feet away in a circle. Simon offers me a smile. I smile back. His Penny glances between us but ultimately doesn’t say anything. His Baz though, before we start the spell he comes over to me.

“It’ll be okay. Maybe not today, but one day. One day it will be, and there will still be bad days. But you’ll have them, and they will make it worth it.” I give him a happier smile in response. He doesn’t tell me who the ‘they’ he mentions is, but I think I can piece that together myself.

Agatha performs the spell. And before I know what’s happened, they’re gone. Like they’d never been here before. When they leave Agatha offers to pay for some pizza and neither Penny nor I deny the offer.

We’re halfway through a horrid action movie when there’s a knock on our door. I get up and answer it.

It’s Baz.

“Hi.” She says.

“Hello.” I reply. “I’m sorry this happened.”

“It’s okay. Well, after I had an utter meltdown over the fact the cute barista girl I’ve been flirting with for months was a succubus anyways.” I smile at her.

“Do you want to join us for a shitty action movie and pizza?” I offer opening the door further. She nods. When we walk in together Penny gives me a raised eyebrow and I shrug.

I have a feeling that things won’t be perfect from now on. They rarely are, but I doubt they’ll be as bad as they were today.


End file.
